Resolviendo Los Dilemas Del Crecimiento Empresarial

A NEWSLETTER FROM H ARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING A ND I NNOSIGHT

STRATEGY INNOVATION
Breakthrough Insight and Ideas for Driving Growth

Article Reprint No. S0307A

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Solving the
Dilemmas of Growth

by Clayton M. Christensen and Scott D. Anthony

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A NEWSLETTER FROM H ARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING A ND I NNOSIGHT

STRATEGY INNOVATION
BreakthroughInsight and Ideas for Driving Growth

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Three strategies for new growth businesses

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Solving the
Dilemmas of Growth
Finding success through new-market
disruption strategiesO

BY CLAYTON M. CHRISTENSEN
AND SCOTT D. ANTHONY

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 —   —is near the top of
just about every manager’s agenda. But most view
achieving that growth as a gamble, where success is random and unpredictable. There is some truth to this perception, but the good news is that companies can tilt the odds
of creating sustainable new growth businesses in their
favor bydeveloping strategies based on disruption.
Consider the strategic choices now facing Xerox as it
introduces the iGen3, a high-end digital color printer the
company has spent more than 10 years and hundreds of
millions of dollars developing.
The iGen3 can produce professional-quality documents such as brochures and magazines in short, customized print runs. How should Xerox bring thistechnology to market? It could try to sell to very demanding customers who purchase expensive offset printers
made by giant manufacturers like Heidelberg. Xerox might
make inroads into this marketplace. But it would face an
uphill battle against an entrenched competitor that is
highly motivated to respond. It would have to convince
customers consuming very good products to switch to
cheaper andsimpler machines.
The disruptive alternative would be to target customers
that currently don’t purchase offset printers and are looking for the ability to handle customized jobs. Kinko’s
immediately springs to mind. Xerox’s digital color printer
could be the catalyst that lets Kinko’s disrupt high-end
printing companies like RR Donnelley. Xerox could also
market the iGen3 to corporations thatpreviously lacked
the capability to produce their own reports and marketing
collateral internally. These companies might be delighted
with the ability to handle short-run, customized jobs
themselves.
Choices such as these will determine whether the iGen3
ends up being the foundation of a new growth business or
an expensive flop.

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There are three strategies that both new and...